A comparison between Gertrude and Ophelia in Hamlet The Shakespearean tragedy Hamlet features two female characters in the main roles, Ophelia and Gertrude. They are similar in a surprising number of ways. This essay aims to clarify to the reader their similarity or resemblance. It is quite obvious that both Gertrude and Ophelia are both motivated by love and the desire for quiet family harmony among the members of their society in Elsinore. For her son's sake Gertrude advises: Dear Hamlet, cast away your night-colour, and let your eye look like a friend over Denmark. Do not forever search with your veiled eyelids for your noble father in the dust. (1.2) He likewise requests that the prince remain with the family: “Let thy mother not lose her prayers, Hamlet, / I pray thee stay with us, go not to Wittenberg.” Later, when the hero's supposed "madness" is the great concern, Gertrude lovingly sides with her husband in his analysis of her son's condition: "I doubt but the chief, / the death of his father and our hasty wedding. " He confides his family-supporting thoughts to Ophelia: "And for your part, Ophelia, I wish / That your fair beauties be the happy cause / Of Hamlet's wildness," thus attempting to maintain a loving relationship with the young lady of the court. , even if the latter belongs to a lower social stratum. Claudio asks Gertrude: “Sweet Gertrude, leave us too; . Family love is Gertrude's first priority. When, at the presentation of The Mousetrap, he makes a request to his son: "Come here, my dear Hamlet, sit next to me", and he... in the center of the sheet... ossuary of Literature Terms. 7th ed. New York: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1999.Boklund, Gunnar. "Hamlet." Essays on Shakespeare. Ed. Gerald Chapmann. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1965.Burton, Philip. "Hamlet." The only voice. New York: The Dial Press, 1970. Page No. http://www.freehomepages.com/hamlet/other/burton-hamlet.htm Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. Lectures and notes on Shakspere and other English poets. London: George Bell and Sons, 1904. p. 342-368. http://ds.dial.pipex.com/thomas_larque/ham1-col.htmKermode, Frank. "Hamlet." The bank of the Shakespeare River. Ed. G. Blakemore Evans. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1974.Shakespeare, William. The tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 1995. http://www.chemicool.com/Shakespeare/hamlet/full.html No line nn.